NASA 'intrusions' may deter rocket scientists

Forget rocket science, space researchers are at the heart of an extraordinary legal battle over privacy. The case will help to clarify whether the US federal government can legally perform extensive background checks on employees doing non-classified work. It could also affect NASA's ability to attract top scientists.

In 2005, Robert Nelson, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, led a group of 28 colleagues in objecting to background checks introduced by JPL as part of efforts to beef up homeland security.

The group sued, claiming that the checks were "intrusive" because they gave NASA permission to collect information – such as a person's medical history and sexual habits – which was unnecessary for workers at the laboratory, who use satellites and robotic spacecraft to explore the solar system. "They wanted to know who we slept with," says Nelson. "We thought that was off-limits, out of bounds."

Space shuttle approach

In 2007, a lower court issued an injunction blocking JPL from requiring employees to assent to the checks. The court rejected the broad privacy complaints but said a specific question on one form (pdf) asking employees to describe treatments they had received for illegal drug use was unconstitutional, as was one on a separate form sent to potential referees (pdf) asking them to disclose "derogatory as well as positive information" about employees.

The government appealed and the case was heard by the US Supreme Court on 5 October (pdf). During the hearing, government attorney Neal Katyal claimed that a JPL badge grants a worker access to many NASA facilities and with it the ability to come "within 6 to 10 feet" of the space shuttles.

Nelson disputes this and says he has demanded that NASA retract the statement. "There is no way we can get within 6 to 10 feet of the space shuttle with the ID card that a JPL employee carries," he says.

Talent threat

The Supreme Court could take months to rule. If upheld, the checks could affect NASA's ability to hire and retain scientists.

A NASA spokesman in Washington DC declined to comment directly on the ramifications of the case but told New Scientist that the background checks are not unique to the agency and that there are "many scientists across the agency and the federal government who have already gone through the required security procedures".

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.